One Kairat Almaty player views his trip to face Arsenal a little differently

Arsenal have been imperious in this season's Champions League, so will that form continue? Last Tuesday, Gabriel Jesus' brace helped the Gunners beat Inter 3-1 at San Siro.

This means Mikel Arteta's team have won seven out of seven in the league phase, also notably beating Atlético Madrid and Bayern Munich, scoring 20 goals and conceding just two. As a result, Arsenal will go straight through to the round of 16 and are guaranteed to be at home in the second leg of every knockout tie they play.

To cement the top spot, the Gunners require a point from their matchday eight clash. Well, considering bottom of the table Kairat are the visitors to North London, an emphatic home win does appear the likeliest outcome. But who are Kairat ,and what should Gooners know about them?

Almaty to London: a long way to travel

Kairat are based in the Kazakh city of Almaty, which directly translated to apple-rich; according to historians, this is the first place on earth the fruit was ever grown before being popularised.

Located on the very eastern side of Kazakhstan, Almaty is only around 200 miles from the Chinese border, further east than Mumbai and Islāmābād. In fact, Almaty is around 100 miles closer to Tōkyō than London.

Kairat's historic European adventure

This will be Kairat's 16th and final European match of the season, a campaign that began in Ljubljana on 8 July. For context, should Arsenal feature in the final at Puskás Aréna on 30 May, that would be their 15th Champions League fixture of the season.

Before this year, Kairat had only ever featured in one UEFA group stage, reaching the Conference League proper in 2021. However, during the summer, Rafael Urazbakhtin's side knocked out Olimpija Ljubljana and KuPS, then prevailed in two penalty shootouts, ousting Slovan Bratislava and Celtic, to secure their place in the Champions League.

The back-to-back Kazakh champions have lost six of seven matches to date, conceding 19 goals, but just being here is an achievement in and of itself. The only point they've earned came in October, when they held Pafos to a goalless draw at home, helped by João Correia's red card for the Cypriot visitors inside the first four minutes.

Lack of match practice

Given freezing cold temperatures, the Kazakhstan Premier League runs on a calendar year basis.

In an Anfield '89-esque match, the top two met on the final day of last season. Kairat battled to a 1-1 draw to retain the title at the expense of Astana, the recently dethroned six-in-a-row- champions.

That match took place on 26 October and Kairat have not been in domestic action since; league matches return in Kazakhstan in early March. So, since then, Kairat have played just four Champions League fixtures, with Arteta's team in action 23 times across various competitions.

Kairat's superstar attacker

If Arsenal supporters are searching for a Kairat player to watch on Wednesday, look no further than striker Dastan Satpayev. Born in August 2008, this might make you feel old, the day after his birth, Arsène Wenger's team beat Steve McClaren's Twente in a Champions League qualifier, thanks to goals from William Gallas and then Emmanuel Adebayor.

The 17 year old scored 14 Kazakh league goals last season, as well as netting four times in the Champions League, including qualifiers, most recently on target against København at Parken.

Well, while he is here, Satpayev may want to have a look around London. That's because, upon his 18th birthday this summer, he will join Chelsea for €4 million. Will he be a star of the future at Stamford Bridge? Who knows, but he'll certainly want to make a name for himself this week.